Ben Gerstein

Ben Gerstein, trombonist and multimedia artist, was born and raised in Santa Barbara, CA. He has been living in New York City since 1995, a graduate of the Manhattan School of Music in 1999. Over the years he has developed numerous groups and projects committed to exploring free-improvisation as the means of composition and integration with nature and the arts, working closely with a wide variety of musicians and artists around the world. He has also recorded solo recreations of works by composers such as Conlon Nancarrow, Elliott Carter, Igor Stravinsky, Erik Satie, Sholem Aleichem, J.S. Bach and Carlo Gesualdo. Ben has been a member of ensembles led by Henry Threadgill, Joe and Mat Maneri, Tony Malaby, and Tyshawn Sorey, among many others. In 2013 he was awarded a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in the category of Music/Sound. His other areas of artistic pursuit include photography, videography, painting and drawing.